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The calendar says we’re in the last week of August, and September will make its fall entrance Sunday. The high school football season is underway, and this weekend, many colleges and universities, including Tennessee, will play their first football game of the season.

But, the calendar also says it’s still summer and the 90-degree temperatures this week say so, too.

This has been an unusually warm summer, and the long-range forecast by the National Weather Service says a warm autumn could be in the forecast. The new NOAA forecast just released in recent days says an exceptionally hot summer is likely to transition into a warm autumn. Every single state is at least partially leaning toward above-average temperatures for the end of summer and start of fall. 

Meanwhile, as hurricane season continues in the Atlantic, the Gulf and East coasts are predicted to get more rain than usual over the next three months.

Despite the warm weather, autumn will come just like the calendar says. There will be football despite the summer-like weather. Fall festivals are still scheduled, including the Covered Bridge Celebration downtown Elizabethton in mid-September.

Although public swimming pools will close for the summer season, it’s very likely that home swimming pools will remain open. It’s also very likely that the air conditioning will continue running, and winter clothing will stay in the closet, at least until there is a frost. Usually, the first frost for our area occurs around October 21. Frost is predicted when air temperatures reach 32°F (0°C). Still, a frost may occur even when air temperatures are just above freezing due to open exposure to the clear night sky, which exposes surfaces to radiative cooling.

Another autumn event we can expect is the fall color, which is expected to occur around the end of September or the first of October. Fall color usually draws tourists to the area to view color in the Northeast Tennessee mountains. And, of course it is pumpkin season, which is synonymous with football season. Already, there is Halloween decor in the stores, and the shelves are filled with Halloween candy. But, it’s never too early for Halloween candy and trick-or-treat.

Autumn is a season famous for its harvest times, turning leaves, cooling temperatures, and darkening nights. It’s the time of year that Keats called the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.”

Regardless of the summer heat that is forecast to continue through the fall months, the days will get shorter and the nights longer. This year autumn will begin on September 22.

Autumn is the best season because it looks as beautiful as it feels. It provides us with motivation, convivial companionship, and gorgeous views to match. Brisk afternoons and splendid colors bring people together to enjoy what is all around us in fall. With less time in a day and an impending winter, we plan accordingly. Like spring, fall is a season of transition, a reminder of the value of change, in this case from bright, buzzing, verdant summer toward the dark, quiet calm of winter. 

Why talk or write about autumn, when we are still in summer and 90-degree temperatures? Because autumn will be here (according to the calendar) sooner than later. And, perhaps a little wishful thinking will make the summer heat disappear and we can really have some football weather. It doesn’t hurt to wish.